American singer, musician, trombonist and actor, also known as Ray Victor, who was a significant influence on the Latin jazz scene from 1940 through 2019.
Vasquez recorded his own album, Ray Vasquez: In the Still of The Night on Tropicana Records with music director George Hernandez and produced by Oliver Berliner. The thirty-five-piece band behind him included musicians such as Paul Lopez and Anthony Ortega.
Ray was asked by numerous band leaders such as Chico Sesma, Eddie Cano, Perez Prado, Louis Prima, John T Williams, to be the vocalist on single releases recorded on Gold Star Records, Bean Monde, Accent Records (US), and RCA Records labels.
During the early 1960s, Vasquez hit the Las Vegas circuit and was met with success and opportunity. He sang at various resorts, lounges and casinos.
He met his future wife Renee (Renee Victor) in Lake Tahoe and Las Vegas when she was the “front girl” with Perez Prado’s orchestra.
His career took off internationally in the late 1960s. Vasquez and his wife traveled to Paris to rehearse “Lido de Paris” and went on to perform in countries including Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Venezuela, Cuba, the Philippines, Jamaica and Australia.
Vasquez and his wife worked for four years in Australia. Taped in Perth, their television series on the Nine network The Ray and Renee Show created an American sensation in Australia.
Upon his return to the United States in the 1970s, Vasquez began an acting career. He worked in television, radio and film; and co-hosted the KTLA talk show Pacesetters.
Vasquez sang with a piano accompanist until he was 94. In 2018, he suffered a heart attack. After one month in rehabilitation, he retired. Ten months later, his health declined rapidly. He passed away at home on 25 January 2019, with his daughters and family surrounding him, two weeks shy of his 95th birthday.
Link to Wikipedia biography